CROCHET stitch ideas on how to save your time

Good Morning....It has been quite sometime that I have not updated my blog, been busy lately...

Here are some Crochet tips:

Remember to add extra chains to yourbeginning chain when using taller stitches. You need1 turning chain for single crochet, 2 chains for halfdouble crochet, 3 chains for double crochet and 4chains for treble crochet. For example, if the originalpattern is a multiple of 6 + 3, that means eachpattern repeat takes 6 stitches and the chain-3 isthe number of chains to make after turning the endof row. The chain-3 would represent the height of adouble crochet and usually counts as the first stitch ofthe next row, so if you change from double to treblecrochet, chain 4 (1 chain increased) instead of chain3. If the original pattern is worked in single crochet,unless instructed otherwise, chain 1 at the beginningof a new row and follow pattern across. Whenchanging from single crochet to double crochet, youneed to add two extra chains to your beginning chain.Actual Crochet TimeWhile many patterns provide an approximatelength of time to make a project, the truth is,everyone works at their own pace. The timerequired to crochet anything is actual crochettime! It’s easy to spend an evening crochetingan afghan and if you begin at 7 p.m. and stop at10 p.m., you are likely to think you spent threehours crocheting. A phone call from your bestfriend, fixing a snack, taking a bathroom breakor stopping to help a child with homeworkmeans those interruptions are not actualcrochet time.There are two quick ways to determinehow long it will take you to make any crochetproject.1. A very rough estimate is to figure six to eighthours per skein.2. After working a few rows of your project,watch the clock and crochet across the nextrow without interruption—check the clock.If it takes you five minutes to crochet onerow, multiply that number (5) times thetotal number of rows required to determinetime required, not including edging or otherfinishing work. If working on a baby blanketand it takes 20 minutes to crochet across onerow and the total number of rows required is50, 20 (minutes) x 50 (rows) = 1,000 minutes.Divide 1,000 by 60 (minutes in one hour) andthe total amount of time required to work the

baby blanket is approximately 161/2 hours. ■

How to cut your crochet time

up to 50 percent or more!

Who doesn’t want to learn how to crochet

faster than ever?

Basically, there are two ways to decrease the

crochet time required to complete a project:

1. Change a single crochet to a taller stitch: half

double crochet, double crochet or even a treble

crochet stitch.

2. Use a larger hook.

Additionally, always work in back bar of the

chain on row 1 for a more finished look.

All four swatches crocheted with a size H hook.

working in S,ngle crochet (US sc). (UK dc, double crochet)

working in half double crochet (US hdc), (UK htr, half treble)

working in double crochet (US dc). (UK treble, tr)

working in treble (US trc) (UKdtr-double treble)

Simply changing to a taller stitch, for example

working in treble crochet instead of double

crochet, increases the length significantly

fewer rows are required to reach desired length!

Because each of the four swatches shown was

worked with the same size hook, the width

remains constant.

Increasing the height of the stitch means you

need to crochet fewer rows with each hook size

increase. How easy is that?

Have a happy crafting day.....See you on my next post.